Just thinking aloud here...Philly would be the next logical step, followed by DC.

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Philly would be a very, very difficult nut to crack. Comcast runs Philadelphia. In addition, Philly.com has been a success in terms of traffic (even if it has many, many flaws), and a unified front between the Daily News and Inquirer would be tough to compete against.

With all that said, Philadelphia makes a lot of sense as a sports-crazy town that doesn't ever stop caring.

Washington would've been the perfect market to move into about three months ago because The Washington Times hadn't rebooted, and the Post (as well as the lesser-than-Philly Comcast presence) would have been the only real competition. In addition, at least a couple of the writers from the Times staff, including a few not back on the new staff, have followings that would have been a natural fit. It's still a very viable market to crash, and I would think it would be wise to make it ESPN Beltway, not ESPN DC, because Baltimore has a rich fanbase and the Sun has taken so many hits in the sports department that it wouldn't be difficult to compete with them even if you limited the allocated resources.

I could see San Francisco, Phoenix, St. Louis, Denver and Minnesota as other viable markets to crash in the early going.